Adventures of a Computational Explorer
Through his pioneering work in science, technology and language design, Stephen Wolfram has developed his own signature way of thinking about an impressive range of subjects. In this lively book of essays, Wolfram takes the reader along on some of his most surprising and engaging intellectual adventures.
From science consulting for a Hollywood movie, solving problems of AI ethics, hunting for the source of an unusual polyhedron, communicating with extraterrestrials, to finding the fundamental theory of physics and exploring the digits of pi, Adventures of a Computational Explorer captures the infectious energy and curiosity of one of the great pioneers of the computational world.
Information and Media Inquiries
October 16, 2019 Publication
Publicity and Interviews: sw-media@wolfram.com
Translation Rights Requests: info@dropcap.com
Trim Size: 6" x 9"
Non-Fiction: Biography/Science
Distribution by Ingram, Amazon and Baker & Taylor
UK Distribution: Turnaround Publisher Services
Contents
- Preface
- Quick, How Might the Alien Spacecraft Work?
- My Hobby: Hunting for Our Universe
- Showing Off to the Universe: Beacons for the Afterlife of Our Civilization
- Pi or Pie?! Celebrating Pi Day of the Century
- What Is Ultimately Possible in Physics?
- My Life in Technology—As Told at the Computer History Museum
- Something I Learned in Kindergarten
- Music, Mathematica, and the Computational Universe
- Ten Thousand Hours of Design Reviews
- What Should We Call the Language of Mathematica?
- What Do I Do All Day? Livestreamed Technology CEOing
- The Story of Spikey
- Advance of the Data Civilization: A Timeline
- Data Science of the Facebook World
- A Short Talk on AI Ethics
- Overcoming Artificial Stupidity
- Scientific Bug Hunting in the Cloud
- The Practical Business of Ontology: A Tale from the Front Lines
- The Poetry of Function Naming
- Buzzword Convergence: Making Sense of Quantum Neural Blockchain AI
- Oh My Gosh, It's Covered in Rule 30s!
- The Personal Analytics of My Life
- Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastrcture
- A Precociousness Record (Almost) Broken
- A Speech for (High School) Graduates
Praise for Adventures of a Computational Explorer
Get inside the head of one of our era's most creative and influential minds as he explores everything from communicating with extraterrestrial life to finding the fundamental underpinnings of reality. Adventures of a Computational Explorer is a deep and delightful intellectual odyssey.
Stephen Wolfram is a genius. But that's not the most uncommon of his attributes. He is fiercely and fully independent, in every possible sense of the word. Wolfram does everything, literally everything, on his own terms.
This tour of Stephen Wolfram's mind is a jungle journey where ferocious new ideas jump out at you, then charm you. Read it in batches, because the idea density is high and pleasure long.
Stephen Wolfram has the most brilliant computational mind I have ever encountered. His endless curiosity, breadth of knowledge, and attention to detail, are truly astonishing. 'Adventures' is a wild ride down the Rabbit Hole.
Stephen Wolfram is one of the remarkable scientists and technologists of our time, a physicist who went deep into computing, first as a means to an end creating computing tools, and then as a fundamental way to understand our universe. In Adventures of a Computational Explorer, he shares episodes of his journey, written in his characteristically direct and engaging style.
Across 40 centuries, "impudent" minds were denounced or crushed. Rejoice that we unleash ours! As a brazen theoretician, Stephen Wolfram upended scientific models, then crafted practical tools used by the world's top innovators. He dives into deep abstractions, then explains them clearly to a fascinated public. Enter, oh impudent explorers! Wonders await within.
Media Attention
In the world of computational science, Stephen Wolfram is one of our most prolific thinkers. After a lifetime of letting his brain run wild over a wide variety of topics... he's released a new collection of his mind-expanding essays, the aptly titled Adventures of a Computational Explorer.
[Stephen Wolfram] is arguably our generation's best bet to Figuring It All Out, finding the fundamental nature of reality and what makes the universe tick.
The first time [I] met [Stephen Wolfram] 20, 30 years ago, I came out of that meeting, and I said to my wife, 'That is the smartest person I have ever met in my life.'
Computer scientist and businessman Stephen Wolfram, designer of the technical-computing system Mathematica, proffers good stories in this collection of autobiographical essays.
This guy is cracking the codes of life, physics and the universe. I've never read such an idea-dense book of this length before.
It's incredibly impressive and more than a little scary; I couldn't put the book down. If you're also a geek who's interested in science and mathematics, I predict you're going to feel the same way.
Read more about Stephen Wolfram and Adventures of a Computational Explorer in Physics World, Tech Republic and Fast Company.
Praise for Other Books by Stephen Wolfram
In our time, Stephen Wolfram, once a Wunderkind and now the widely acknowledged creator of Mathematica and originator of A New Kind of Science, is an outstanding contemporary participant in this conversation.
Stephen Wolfram is a quirky, groundbreaking genius, destined for the science pantheon. So novel are his seemingly simple ideas that it may take half a century before the public adopts them.
A first-class intellectual thrill... No one has contributed more seminally to this new way of thinking about the world.
- Title: ADVENTURES OF A COMPUTATIONAL EXPLORER
- Author: Stephen Wolfram
- Hardcover: $24.95 430 pages
- eBook: $9.95
- Publisher: Wolfram Media, Inc.
- Publication Date: October 16, 2019
- ISBN-13: 978-1-57955-026-4 (hardcover)
- ISBN-13: 978-1-57955-027-1 (eBook)